Fastening unit for toilet fixtures



Sept. 29,1953 E. G. NELSON 2, 3,

FASTENING UNIT FOR TOILET FIXTURES Filed May'l4, 1951 Inventor AttorneyPatented Sept. 29, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

This invention relates to a novel fastening unit for toilet fixturessuch as water closet stools or bowls, lavatories, tubs and the like.

A porcelain cap is conventionally employed with fastenings for toiletfixtures and which is secured to the fastening by putty; however, suchcaps readily become loose after the putty has dried and are usuallyknocked ofi in sweeping or wiping around the toilet fixture.Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to providea fastening unit including an ornamental cap which is attached withoutthe use of putty or similar binding means and which will be readilyretained in an applied position and without danger of becoming lost orknocked off.

Another object of the invention is to provide a fastening wherein theornamental cap additionally assists in retaining the fastener in acorrectly applied position and minimizes the possibility of the fasteninbecoming loosened.

A further object of the invention is to provide a fastening unit whichafter being once applied may be disassembled for removal of a toiletfixture secured thereby from a supporting surface and which due to itsconstruction will enable the toilet fixture to be quickly and easilyreplaced and secured to the supporting surface and without the necessityof removing an element of the fastening unit which is anchored in thesupporting surface.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will hereinafterbecome more fully apparent from the following description of thedrawing, illustrating a presently preferred embodiment thereof, andwherein:

Figure l is a side elevational view of a water closet, bowl or stoolshowing one of the fastening units in an applied position;

Figure 2 is an enlarged vertical sectional view, partly in sideelevation of the fastening unit taken substantially along a plane asindicated by the line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a plan view of the cap element of the fastening unit;

Figure 4 is a horizontal sectional view of the fastening unit takensubstantially along a plane as indicated by the line 4-4 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a side elevational view of the cap element;

Figure 6 is a side elevational view, partly in section of the remainingelements of the fastening unit shown assembled;

Figure '7 is a central vertical sectional view of a slightly modifiedform of the cap element, and

Figure 8 is a sectional view thereof taken substantially along a planeas indicated by the line 8-8 of Figure 7.

Referring more specifically to the drawing, the fastening unit in itsentirety, as illustrated in Figures 1 to 6, is designated generally I0and includes a rod, designated generally I I having an intermediateportion I2 of circular cross section and of uniform diameter throughoutits length and the exterior surface of which is smooth. The fasteningelement ll includes an elongated tapered end provided with a threadforming a woodscrew I3. The opposite, upper end of the rod I I isprovided with a conventional thread.

pitched in the same direction as the thread of the wood screw I3 andforming a threaded portion I4. A conventional nut I5 having an enlargedbottom portion provided with wrench lands I6 is sized to threadedly fiton the threaded rod portion I4. The outer end of the rod portion I4 ispreferably but not necessarily provided with a kerf I'I adapted toreceive a screwdriver bit. A yieldable washer I8 is adapted to bemounted on the rod I2 beneath the nut I5 and may be formed of anysuitable material such as rubber.

The fastening unit I0 also includes a cap I9 which is illustrated asbeing formed of porcelain but which may be formed of any other suitablematerial such as a plastic. The cap I9 includes a substantiallyhemispherical upper portion 2!! and an enlarged bottom portion which isprovided with wrench lands 2| and a substantially fiat bottom surface22. The cap I9 is provided with a relatively large hollow internalchamber 23 which opens outwardly of its bottom surface 22 and the upperportion of the cap I9 is provided with an internally threaded socket 24which is closed at its upper end and the lower end of which opens intothe top of the chamber 23 and centrally thereof.

For the purpose of illustrating a preferred application and use of thefastening unit ill, a conventional water closet bowl or stool has beenillustrated in Figure 1 and is designated generally 25; however, it willbe readily apparent that the fastening unit I0 may be utilized withother toilet fixtures having a securing flange at the base thereof. Thestool 25 is shown provided at its base with an outwardly projectingflange 26 having a series of fastening receiving openings extendingtherethrough, one of which is illustrated in Figure 2 at 21. The fiatbottom surface of the stool 25 is adapted to rest on a suitablesupporting surface such as a portion of a floor, as indicated at 28,after which one of the rods I I is applied to each flange opening 21thereof. This is accomplished by the wood screw portion I3 beinginserted downwardly through the opening 2! and with the nut I5 appliedto the rod portion I4 and advanced downwardly as far as possiblethereon, a wrench or other suitable turning tool,

not shown, may be applied to the wrench lands I5 of the nut l5 forturning the nut and the rod II therewith in a direction for advancingthe wood screw I3 into the fioor or surface 28. This is ordinarilyaccomplished with the yieldable washer 3 IB applied to the rod I Idirectly below the nut I5 so that after the wood screw I 3 has beenfully anchored in the floor or surface 28 and the rod portion I2 is inengagement with the flange opening 21, the nut I5 will be prevented frombeing tightened against the flange 26 with suflicient force to possiblybreak the flange by the yieldable washer I8 which is clamped between theupper surface of the flange 2B and the bottom surface of the nut I5. Itwill thus be seen that the nut I5 will effectively retain the flange 26tight against the supporting surface 28. The cap I5 is then applied overthe rod portion I4 and nut.- I5 and said cap is turned to screw theexposed upper end of the rod portion I4 into the socket 24 therebythreadedly connecting the cap to the rod I I so that the cap will bereadily retained in an applied position to conceal the upper end of therod II and the nut I5. It will also be apparent that this threadedconnection will prevent the cap I9 from bein knocked off or readilydisconnected accidentally from the rod portion I4. It will also be notedthat the nut I5 will be accommodated in the cap chamber 23 and the capwill tend to prevent the nut I5 from working loose; however, the threadsof the socket 24 do not retain the fastening in an applied position sothat a sufficient force is never exerted against the cap I9 to causestripping of the threads of the socket 24. It will thus be readilyapparent that the fastening unit I affords an ornamental cap I9 whichwhile having substantially the same appearance as the ornamentalporcelain caps now employed with fastenings of toilet fixtures, is of adifferent internal construction enabling it to be mounted without theuse of putty or other similar binders so that the cap will not becomeloose when the putty is dry, to thus afford an ornamental cap which maybe readily retained in an applied position due to its construction yetis readily capable of being quickly removed and reapplied and which willadditionally function to prevent the retaining nut I of the fasteningunit from working loose and as a shield to conceal the nut and thusdiscourage an unauthorized removal thereof. It will likewise beunderstood that a similar fastening unit III is employed with each ofthe other fastening openings 21', not shown, of the fixture flange 26.

The fixture 25 may be quickly removed and replaced without disconnectinthe rod II from the surface 28 by simply removing the cap I9 and nut I5of each fastening unit from the threaded rod portion I 4 and thereafterremoving the flange 26 from the rod II together with the washers I8, bylifting upwardly on the fixture 25. Similarly, the fixture 25 may bereapplied over the portions of the rods I I which project upwardly fromthe surface 28 after which the washers I8, nuts I5 and caps I9 are thenapplied in that order to each rod I I. Should it be necessary to removethe rod II from the surface 28, which is ordinarily not required, thismay be accomplished by applying a screwdriver bit, not shown, to thekerf I! for removing the wood screw portion I3 from the surface 28.Likewise, if desired, the kerf IT may be used with a screwdriver in lieuof the nut I5 and a turning tool which engages the nut for initiallyapplying the wood screw portion I3 to the surface 28 and beforeapplication of the nut I5 and washer I 8.

Figures 7 and 8 illustrate a slightly modified form of the cap,designated generally I91: and

which differs from the cap I 9 only in that in lieu of the internallythreaded socket 24, the upper portion of the cap I9a is recessed toreceive an internally threaded metal socket.- 2441 which is suitablysecured therein and which open downwardly into the chamber 23a,corresponding to the chamber 23. It will also be apparent that thewrench lands 2| of the cap I9 or the wrench lands 2Ia of the cap I9a mayreceive a turning tool, if necessary, for attaching the caps to theexposed rod ends I4.

Various other modifications and changes are likewise contemplated andmay obviously be resorted to, without departing from the spirit or scopeof the invention as hereinafter defined by the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination with a fastening including a retaining nut and athreaded shank extending threadedly through said retaining nut having anexposed threaded end projecting outwardly from the nut, of an ornamentalporcelain cap having an inner surface, said cap having a relativelylarge chamber opening outwardly of said inner surface looselysurrounding the nut and in which the nut is disposed, and said caphaving an internally threaded socket opening into said chamber in whichthe exposed end of the threaded shank is threadedly received fordetachably mounting the cap over the nut and threaded shank, the

depth of said chamber corresponding to the thickness of the nut wherebyan outer face of the nut abuts an internal surface of the cap definingthe inner surface of the chamber, when an inner face of the nut and aninner face of the cap are in abutting engagement with a member to beretained by the nut, so that, the. cap encloses the nut and threadedshank and prevents the nut from working loose on the threaded shank.

2. A fastening unit for a toilet fixture comprising a rod anchored invand extending upwardly from a supporting surface through a toiletfixture flange, said rod having a threaded upper end, a nut threaded onsaid threaded rod end and bearing on an upper side of the fixtureflange, an ornamental porcelain cap having a bottom face bearing on thefixture flange, said cap having a chamber opening outwardly of saidbottom face and loosely surrounding the nut, said cap having a threadedsocket opening downwardly into the chamber and threadedly engaging theupper end of the rod above the nut for detachably securing the cap tothe rod in a position over the nut, the depth of the chambercorresponding to the thickness of the nut, and said cap having aninternal face bearing on an upper face of the nut to preventdisplacement of the nut away from the fixture flange while engaged bythe cap.

ELMER G. NELSON.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 802,076 Hinsdale Oct. 1'7, 1905 1,096,269 Saxe May 12, 19141,126,531 Liebmann Jan. 26, 1915 1,151,087 Cosgrove Aug. 24, 19151,254,514 Lehmann Jan. 22, 1918 1,317,963 Cosgrove Oct. 7, 19192,427,431 Wieland Sept. 16, 1947 2,538,483 Summers Jan. 16, 1951

